Gift from Pele, Eyeball, Poop, Cow & Turkey

8[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland. In the last few editions I've related my aging woes to the extent that this might be called The Geezer Gazette.]

12/28/24

 

Aloha Everybody!

Well, I imagine by now you've heard that Pele has given us a Christmas present.  Early in the week the

volcano woke up and started erupting again, this time in the summit caldera. It happened about 2:30 a.m., and anyone staying nearby was treated to a show of fountaining lava that reached 300 feet in the air.  It must have been spectacular! The eruption caught the volcanologists by surprise because none of the monitoring equipment showed the usual signs that something was about to happen.  Once again nature thumbs its nose at Hunan hubris. The show lasted just a couple of hours, then

paused until Christmas Eve, when it spurted up again, this time going for about 24 hours before pausing again around noon on Christmas Day  This pattern may continue for awhile, though there is no way of knowing for sure.  Onr thing is certain, though. Pele's present has produced a fair amount of VOG along our coast, the first we've seen in months.  This is one gift we'd rather not receive.The media coverage has tended to show close-up views of the lava because they are more eye catching than the eruption in context,  To illustrate, here are three photos, the first two are from NBC and NYT, while the third is from the USGS web cam showing the entire Kilauea summit crater.  If you look really hard in the USGS photo you'll see the real extent of the eruption in the upper left corner.

Our Christmas was quiet and pleasant.  On Christmas Eve we cooked a prime rib roast and very much enjoyed its evil goodness.We use the technique of cooking the roast for only about 25 minutes (depending on weight) in a 500 degree oven, then turning off the heat and leaving the roast in the oven undisturbed for the next two hours. It was perfectly medium rare. If you're not the blood thirsty carnivores that we are, you can always nuke it to your own taste before eating it.  On Christmas Day we joined about 15 other people at a neighbor's house for a traditional turkey pot luck dinner.  We've done this for the past several years, and it was quite pleasant sitting on the neighbor's open lanai with a view of the Kona coast.

 

Not much news in the Geezer Gazette this week, My 1-week cataract surgery checkup went ok.  The new lens is staying correctly positioned and the incision is healing nicely.  My acuity increased markedly from earlier in the week, but only to about what it was before the surgery,  I have to keep in mind that this eye is limited in how much it can improve because about 25% of the retina cells are defunct.  In short, I'm mot raving abut how I should have done this sooner because I can see so much better.  By the way, here are a couple of fun facts about cataract surgery you might find interesting.  According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, about 50% of cataract patients experience "secondary cataracts"within 5 years of their surgery.  This isn't a clouding of the implanted lens, but rather of the eye tissue that holds it in place.  Fortunately there is a quick and effective procedure in which a special kind of laser (Yttrium-Aluminum-Garnet, or YAG for short) is used to punch a small hole in the tissue to allow clear light to reach the new lens.  The second fun fact is that although about 90% of cataract patients have improved acuity after surgery, 30-50% will still need to wear glasses for close vision, distance vision, or both, according to All About Vision.  My take away from these data is that you should make certain you really need cataract surgery before having it, and be realistic in your expectations about the outcome.

In other Geezer news, my poop test results came back and they present something of a puzzle, because they didn't show signs of parasites, bacteria, or any other nasties that could be causing my symptoms.  I haven't talked with my internist yet, and it will be interesting to see what he recommends now.  Fortunately, my symptoms have gotten better and I'm hopeful they will clear up soon.  Finally, I will be sending my heart monitor off for analysis on Monday.  It takes about 2 weeks for the results to come back, and I have an appointment in January to go over them with my cardiologist.  In the meantime, I am pleased to report that I haven't recorded an AFIB episode on my portable ECG device since December 2, nearly 3 1/2 weeks ago.  Of course, brief ones may have occurred between my measurements. If so,the great thing about the monitor is that it will have recorded them.

OK, that's it for this week.  I sincerely wish you all a Happy New Year. But I have to confess that I have a sense of foreboding about 2025 that makes me less than enthusiastic about celebrating its beginning. Not since the Vietnam War have I been this concerned about the direction that the country seems to be taking.  And even at that time I didn't feel that the very nature of our democracy was under threat. I do now. The majority of the electorate just voted into office, by a large margin, a man who is a convicted felon, a documented prolific liar, and a person who openly endorses a form of government that is authoritarian, oligarchic, and fascist. I have traveled all over the world and witnessed first hand this kind of governance and I've always been proud that I lived in a country that was based on more humanitarian and inclusive principles. But I can't be proud of what I fear is coming, and I certainly can't celebrate its arrival.  

 

Take care, and as always, Carpe Vitam .

Return From SE Asia: Jet Lag, Eye Surgery, Medical Marathon

 [Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland. In the last few editions I've related my aging woes to the extent that this might be called The Geezer Gazette.]

12/21/24

 

Aloha, Guys!

 

We returned from our trip to Cambodia and Thailand  on Friday, 12/6, and since then I've been too

Nature Wins

discombobulated to write.  It has been a whirlwind of doctor's appointments, my cataract surgery (just a little over one week ago), dealing with the aftermath of having our chest freezer crap out while we were gone, trying to get some Christmas decorations up, whacking back the jungle, etc., etc.  Of course, this was all happening while we were fighting d a vicious case of jet lag.

I'll try to condense this in order to avoid boring you too much.  First, the cataract surgery went well.  This was the first time I've had any kind of surgery since I had my tonsils taken out, so I was a bit anxious.  The operation took place in an outpatient eye surgery center in Hilo.  We drove over the afternoon before, did some shopping, and had a nice dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Cafe Pesto.  My procedure was scheduled for 8am, which was good because it didn't give me much time to get nervous.  It went smooth as glass. You may remember that I was concerned about my sensitivity to the numbing solution, so the surgeon did a special procedure where he put in just one drop, made an incision, then instilled numbing solution inside the eyeball right at the cataract site.  The whole thing took 10 minutes and after a "recovery" period of about 15 minutes I was having breakfast at McDonald's.  Since then I've been using three kinds of eye drops every day and have had no issues whatever.  I wish I could say that I've had a "Eureka!" moment and experienced tremendous improvement right away, but so far  my vision in that eye isn't much better than it was before. Of course, it's only a week out from the surgery, so there might be more improvement over time. I'll keep you posted.

In "Cardio-Land"  things are going ok at the moment.  I saw my cardiologist a couple of days before my eye surgery and my rhythm was normal.  However, I know from my portable ECG device that I used on the trip  that I slipped into asymptomatic Afib a few times. These episodes didn't last long and my heart rate during them wasn't dangerously high. In fact, for those of you who may have been concerned I'd have a major coronary event while I was in the wilds of Cambodia, the probability of that was very, very low.  This assessment is based on the results of many tests and scans, including the detailed feedback from the heart monitor I wore for 10 days.  It has now been about 6 weeks since I stopped taking Amiodorone, and I feel much, much better.  My cardiologist is still skeptical that my experienced side effects were due to the drug, but I don't agree.  At any rate, if my Afib becomes persistent again he said he'd recommend Ablation therapy rather than a return to drugs.  I'm now wearing a monitor again, and I'll have the results in a few weeks --they should be very informative.

 

One more thing in geezer news is that during the trip I may have picked up some kind of intestinal bug that has given me diarrhea for the past 4 weeks.  I saw my internist on Monday and he ordered a thorough poop test to look for parasites.  Collecting the necessary samples for this has to be one of the most disgusting things I've ever done!  Even worse, the test results came back inconclusive, so my doctor wants me to repeat the test! This means that I may be playing with my poop while waiting for Santa -- fun times.......

Ok, there's lots more but I'm sure I've exceeded your tolerance level for negativity.  Have a great Christmas, and as always, Carpe Vita.